Rams Open Camp With Myles Garrett Looking Like the Final Piece

The Los Angeles Rams reported to Loyola Marymount on Saturday, July 25, held their first practice of 2026 camp the next day, and it took roughly one walkthrough period for the biggest storyline in Rams news to announce itself. Myles Garrett, acquired from Cleveland in June, spent his first practice in horns wrecking plays that were not designed to be wrecked — no pads, no live periods, didn't matter. A team that reached last January's NFC title game added the best pass rusher of his generation, and the people who watched day one came away talking like they'd seen something.

The Myles Garrett Era Starts Loudly

A quick recap for anyone who spent June off the grid: on June 2, timed neatly to the post-June 1 cap window, the Rams sent Jared Verse, a 2027 first-round pick, a 2028 second and a 2029 third to Cleveland for Garrett, who is 30 and coming off a 23-sack season. He arrived with the four-year, $160 million extension he signed with the Browns in March 2025 — the deal that made him the market-setter for edge rushers at $40 million per year — and, helpfully, he was already in the building for OTAs, so there's no acclimation period to sweat. Giving up Verse hurt, and the picks hurt more, but this is a franchise that has never apologized for pushing chips in.

Sunday's debut suggested why. Reporters on hand described Garrett creating simulated sacks and blowing up plays all afternoon, and defensive coordinator Chris Shula didn't bother playing it cool afterward: "We've been looking forward to this day for a long time, and it definitely lived up to it." Former NFL scout Bucky Brooks called it the one offseason move that could tilt the NFC West, and the betting markets agree — this trade is a big reason the Rams sit among the Super Bowl favorites. Even opponents are talking. 49ers general manager John Lynch admitted Kyle Shanahan has been joking, darkly, about what the trade means for the division. When a rival's front office is doing bits about your acquisition, the acquisition landed.

Worth noting for the ledger: Cleveland didn't get fleeced either. Verse is a young, cost-controlled edge rusher who fits a rebuilding timeline, and Browns GM Andrew Berry turned a 30-year-old superstar into a foundation piece plus three premium picks. Both teams got what they wanted. Only one of them is trying to win a title in February, and that's the entire point.

How the Rams Rebuilt Their Secondary Overnight

Garrett wasn't even the only blockbuster. Los Angeles also swung a deal with Kansas City for cornerback Trent McDuffie — four draft picks went back to the Chiefs, per reports — and pried fellow corner Jaylen Watson out of Kansas City as well. McDuffie was an All-Pro in Kansas City, the kind of do-everything corner who erases slot receivers and outside threats alike, and he immediately becomes the best cover man the Rams have employed in years. So the first Rams practice featured an entirely new look on the back end, and the back end delivered the play of the day: Watson got a hand on a deep ball intended for Davante Adams, and safety Kam Kinchens came down with the interception.

McDuffie, for his part, spent his first media availability marveling at his new teammate up front. "When he's out there, you can just feel his aura," he said of Garrett. "He's gigantic. He's a monster." The logic of the offseason is plain: pair an elite rush with man-capable corners and let each make the other's job easier. Sean McVay's opening-day message to the team was about courage and taking chances, and the roster construction says the front office took its own advice.

Stafford's Maintenance Plan, and the Backup Battle Behind Him

Matthew Stafford did not practice Sunday, and that was the plan, not a scare. Coming off the back trouble that shadowed him last year, Stafford is on a modified camp schedule: he'll sit out days one and three of each four-day practice block, plus that first Sunday session, doing conditioning work on his own. McVay says the quarterback is "feeling good" and the whole point is keeping him fresh for Week 1 in Melbourne. Davante Adams, entering his 13th season, is getting similar veteran management.

Context matters here: McVay canceled the team's mandatory minicamp this summer, so camp is the first real football since OTAs wrapped, and the staff — including offensive coordinator Nate Scheelhaase, who has been preaching practice intensity — is easing the veterans back in rather than sprinting. Nobody in Los Angeles needs to see Stafford prove anything in July.

The scheduled absences have a side benefit: real reps for the quarterbacks behind him. Stetson Bennett and rookie Ty Simpson, who signed his rookie deal ahead of camp, ran the offense on day one, and McVay has called their competition for the backup job "a very important" one. Bennett drew the early highlight, hitting Tyler Higbee for a red-zone touchdown. Given Stafford's age and injury history, whoever wins QB2 may matter more than anyone wants it to.

Rams Position Battles and Contract Business Worth Tracking

Beyond the marquee names, the first week surfaced the battles that will shape the bottom of the depth chart:

• WR3: Jordan Whittington and Konata Mumpfield are competing for the third receiver spot behind Adams and Puka Nacua.
• Tight end: A crowded room got more crowded with rookie Max Klare pushing the veterans, Higbee included.
• Backup QB: Bennett vs. Simpson, covered above, with preseason snaps likely to decide it.

None of these are glamour battles, but on a roster this top-heavy, the depth pieces are the difference between surviving January and merely reaching it — and with Stafford and Adams on managed workloads, the young guys will get an unusually honest audition.

There's money business looming too. The Rams' 2023 draft class — Nacua, Kobie Turner, Byron Young and Steve Avila — is entering the final year of its rookie contracts, and McVay acknowledged "internal dialogue" about extensions while cautioning that other priorities come first. Nacua's number in particular will be enormous whenever it gets written. And for the color-and-vibes file: right guard Kevin Dotson showed up with Rams horns dyed into his hair for the second straight summer. Running back Blake Corum, flashing his jump-cut burst on day one, looks like a man who wants a bigger share of the backfield.

What's Next: Open Practices, the Cowboys, and a Flight to Melbourne

The calendar gets busy fast. Seven practices at Loyola Marymount are open to the public between July 27 and August 6. Then come joint sessions against Dallas on August 11 and New Orleans on August 20, wrapped around a preseason opener at Kansas City on August 15 — a fun subplot, given how much of the Chiefs' former secondary now works in Los Angeles.

Looming over all of it is the opener: Rams vs. 49ers in Melbourne, Australia, the first NFL game ever played on that continent. It kicks off Friday, September 11 local time, which is Thursday evening, September 10, back home — 5:35 p.m. Pacific. A midweek season opener on the other side of the planet is a genuinely strange logistical puzzle: the time-zone math, the travel recovery, the shortened lead-in. It's a short runway for a team integrating two new defensive stars and managing its quarterback's back, which is exactly why McVay built the camp schedule the way he did.

Add it up and this was about the best opening week of camp the Los Angeles Rams could have scripted: the blockbuster addition looked like a blockbuster, the new corners made plays immediately, and the franchise quarterback's light workload is by design rather than necessity. The standard this roster set for itself is a Super Bowl, and nothing from the first few days at Loyola Marymount argued otherwise. Next checkpoint in Rams news: padded practices, the Cowboys joint session, and whether Bennett or Simpson grabs the QB2 job by the throat.